So I was playing catch today with my dad and while throwing after on a knee I began to think of where I was letting go of the ball and then my head got into how awkward it was was, etc. Any who while this happened I couldn’t throw a ball without bouncing it in front of him.

We continued and I still couldn’t seem to get on. I might have been thinking to much but I begun to throw curveballs then changeups and then 2 seams and the finally back to 4 seam fast balls where I could throw it where I wanted whenever I was wanted without bouncing it.

We had this drill when I was in HS that we started with our landing knee up and our posting knee on the ground. We got to the cocked position with our front shoulder closed then had to get up and over our landing leg through release. I always thought it was sort of weird, but we did it every year during the first week of pitchers and catchers. I’ve never had any of my pitchers do it because I don’t know what I really got out of it.

I’ve seen lots of teams using the one-knee drill but every time I’ve asked pitchers what the purpose was, the answer was always “I don’t know”. Every drill should have a purpose. Without a purpose, you don’t know what to focus on and you have no way to gauge progress. You end up just “going through the motion”. But is it the right motion? Who knows.